Category Archives: art

Portland Photography: Pinkham Millinery

There’s a magical hat shop in Downtown Portland.

It’s called Pinkham Millinery. The owner Dayna Pinkham studied under the late John Eaton in Seattle. She’s a talented and inspired woman. (More of her story you can find on the web and also on her website.)

I first discovered her store by simply walking by it. It was old world. Charming. It was like stepping back in time. All of her hats are custom made. She measures your head, finds out what you want, and custom designs and builds a hat for your unique head.

She crafts using high quality felts and imported straw. The ribbons she uses are imported. The hats are amazing. I wanted one, but I am not prepared just yet for the cost. So I wistfully gawked, and I planned for the future.

But I really lucked out. REALLY LUCKED OUT. I was in Buffalo Exchange a week and a half later searching for a summer straw hat when I discovered a white straw hat with a little black tag that said Pinkham Millinery. I couldn’t believe my fortune! Fifteen dollars! I did glance around furtively to see if perhaps someone would come over and say, “Oops, we mislabeled that!” And then display it behind the counter. BUT NO! It was ignored and squashed. It looked ruined, but I was hoping that Dayna Pinkham could reblock it and restore it to it’s former glory.

I took the crumpled hat to her, and she evaluated it. She guessed it had been made about seven years prior. She said she thought she could save it, so I left it in her care and scheduled my return two weeks later.

And it was beautiful. She did a fantastic job and installed a little elastic cord since the hat was slightly too big for me (that’s why custom hats are so amazing!) I cannot wait until I can order a custom hat for myself-I’m thinking felt for the winter.

After:

What do you think? Do I look glamorous?

You can follow Pinkham Millinery on Facebook here.

Portland Photography: Lake Grove Upholstery

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I grew up with a mother who loved antiques. For a time, she even ran a large Antique Warehouse on Apache and McClintock in Tempe, Arizona called Cheap Antiques. It was huge: one of those buildings filled with different vendors and rooms. It was unlike any other I’ve been in since though. The back section of the warehouse was a workspace for certain employees to refurnish the some antiques. I used to watch in awe as they dipped heavy pieces into an industrial sized tub to remove all the varnish. It smelled like stripper, oil, and wood shavings back there. I loved it.

It’s been a long time since then; my mother has long since changed careers, but I did inherit a couple of large chairs that wouldn’t quite fit into her house the way she wanted. I lugged them all the way up here to Portland. (Thanks David! I know they were heavy!)

One of the chairs in particular has always been ugly. The fabric on it, I just don’t even know how to describe it. Colorful?

I have provided evidence with a “vintage” photo of me and my cat taking a nap on it. As you can tell, it is comfortable. Definitely worth saving. MAKEOVER MONTAGE! (Just kidding, although if I already had photos of the after…sorry you will have to wait. JUST.LIKE.ME.

I took it to my local reupholster-er. These folks are legit. Alexander Baghdanov is the third generation in his family to practice this business. His wife Lyubov runs the front desk, and his children work in the shop as well. They have beautiful accents and are wonderfully friendly.

Part of what they do is give the furniture a little love. I look forward to seeing how they salvage what my mother’s pug pack did to this arm.

Alexander Bagdanov

There are A MILLION FABRIC SAMPLES. It was so hard to decide. But I finally did. EEEEEEEE!

I hope to have the “after” photos in another week or so!

saint patrick’s day

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Spent time with some of my best friends on Saint Patrick’s Day watching them get tattoos at Martian Art’s Tattoo Studio on Hawthorne Street. The lighting in the shop was lovely, and I managed to get some dramatic shots. (See the full set on flickr)

home sweet home

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I love my new neighborhood. We live in the Sellwood-Mooreland neighborhood of Portland. We’ve already met new neighbors, many of whom are extremely active in the Sherrett Square street mural project. The corner of Sherrett and 9th Avenue was the first corner to paint a mural in the intersection. When they first did it, it was illegal. They eventually brought what they did to the mayor, and paved the way for street mural projects all over Portland! It now has a formal process where city officials help neighborhoods through the steps.

The four corners of our mural also have little pausing stations. There is a tea station with ceramic teacups, bags of tea, and a hot water dispenser. This station is checked and maintained daily.

Across the street is a children’s play area. An open air wooden “cottage” holds toys and benches.

Walk to the other corner, and you will find The Communication Station. This is a place for the Sellwood Bee newspaper as well as any neighborhood news.

The last corner boasts a tiny book lending library although other fun items sometimes find their way here.

We picked a part of town to live in that is extremely walkable. We have easy access to two grocery stores, a homesteading store, about five or six coffee shops, a tea house, many restaurants and more. People walk everywhere! There are a number of little surprises that make walking exciting too! I’ve seen a couple poetry stations, a seed sharing station, chickens, gardens, dogs, cats, oh and there is a river too!

This is the art store. A store that sells art. Dibs on the judgemental seahorse. (This store is not to be confused with the art supply store just down the street.)

This is where you buy rennet, sourdough starter, jars, and learn how to make candles.

Did I mention the Puppet Museum. IN MY NEIGHBORHOOD. This is not on a main street. This is a small neighborhood street. It is in the building that housed the first Sellwood grocery store. It is so charming.

alyssa the steampunker

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So you may remember my friend Alyssa from her interview.

Today I met up with her and her son for tea at Liberty Market.

It was Halloween. But she already had this costume.

interview series: chanelle!

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I first knew of Chanelle through twitter. She was doing what she does-taking photos, talking about food, having a good time…to be honest I was jealous. She then showed up at a the first Ignite Phoenix I went to, and she presented on The Art of Enjoying Food (I just watched the video again.) We began following each other on twitter, talking back and forth, and we first met at her house! She invited me and Rachel (also who I had never yet met), over for chocolate, knitting, and pajamas! Some time after that, I asked her to be part of my group reading through The Artist’s Way. Along the way, we became friends in real life.

Jamie: Tell us a little about yourself.

Chanelle:

i am a mother to two super rad spawn, caleb and arie, who will undoubtedly change the world…. and wife to one wonderful husband, gabe, who has changed my life and the world already. we all love anthony bourdain, macaroni and cheese, pina coladas and getting caught in the rain.

i love food. and drink. reading about it, photographing it, writing about it, preparing it and also eating it. especially the eating part. i have worked in and around kitchens my whole life, i collect cookbooks, and usually think about what i want for dinner before i’ve even had my first bite of breakfast.

i am also a musician. music is life to me…i can find harmony in everything. i’ve been told it’s like a superpower. 🙂
we have a music room in our home with everything from a rhodes to a vintage drum kit to an accordion to a kazoo. i have even used a lemon-pepper mill as a shaker while jamming with friends. it sounded really good but tasted better.
i create and perform music with my husband gabe as “the bear and the bird” and nothing makes me happier. we have performed in a singer-songwriter showcase and at a couple local venues, and we are currently writing new music to share soon.

aaaand i am a photographer. mostly food [surprise!], but i venture out into portraits, music photography and powerlines too. i see and hear the world a little differently, and i like to share that with anyone who cares to see the world through my heart. once upon a time, i was in the top five best flickr photographer finalists in mashable’s open web awards. and i have had my photos displayed in a children’s art museum too. that felt pretty good.

i don’t like: capitalization, mushrooms or pants.

Jamie: I’m trying to imagine your expression if you had to compose an instagram with proper capitalization of yourself eating mushrooms while wearing pants. Does that make me a bad person? But I suppose my real question is what has your journey as a musician looked like?

Chanelle:
first of all, jamie – i love you. second, i will never properly capitalize an instagram of myself eating mushrooms while wearing pants with anything but the most ridiculous expression on my face. imagine bitter beer face combined with the wicked witch of the west and add some indigestion. whatever visual that gives you is probably pretty accurate.

as for my journey into music, i feel like i have just begun, honestly. i am finding my voice, my sound, myself….more and more every day. i always sing, always play, always listen…and always learn something new about music, myself, others through every note.
i grew up listening to my dad play the most beautiful renditions of classic 70’s rock songs [cream, yes, led zeppelin, ah yeah!!] on his acoustic guitar, and i finally found the self-discipline to teach myself guitar when i was 15. i mostly softly played songs to myself in the quiet of my own room through my teens and early twenties. [side note: i am old.] i am horribly self-conscious, and being on stage or recording in the studio [or just being around people ever, haha!] – well, it’s frightening. i was not ready for that for a long, long time. i still don’t feel ready. 😉
a couple years ago i started reading this wonderful book called The Artist’s Way [you may recall, since you invited me to be a part of a book club for that very purpose] [have i told you how grateful i am for you lately?] ANYWAY, i was so encouraged and inspired to break out of my crippling internal fears and finally express the art inside me, so i decided to get crazy and go perform at a local open mic night. *gasp* i was nervous as hell, had only my two spawn there to root me on and you know what? i was terrified. AND I LOVED IT. in an ALL CAPS KIND OF LOVE. i began practicing every day, sometimes several times a day, recording rough covers on my laptop and with fear and courage, posted those recordings online. i cannot say that a major record company discovered me and offered me a gazillion dollar record deal, i have never been asked to play live on conan, nor has jack white phoned me to jam [my ultimate dream of dreams] BUT, it gave me the strength to do many, many other things i needed to do to be true to my heart of hearts and i cannot even think about all i have been through since without many grateful tears. i started and performed in a band with a dear friend of mine, bryan mok, for about a year, moved forward from an oppressive marriage and then unexpectedly found the love of my life, recorded an album with another dear friend Kymberlee, and have now started a musical project with my husband that has good, good things in store. just to name a very few.

i have finally learned to follow my heart with my voice, and it has only become stronger, better, happier every day, thanks to the lovely supportive souls i have encountered along the way. freedom is a beautiful anthem, and i am grateful to sing it.

Jamie: You and I are very much into The Enneagram. What has learning about your number done for you in your life?

Chanelle:

the enneagram is an incredibly enlightening personality guide… it has educated me on the healthy and not-so-healthy aspects of the way i view myself, others, and the world around me. when i first learned about the enneagram, and more importantly, that i am a four [introspective, sensitive, brooding], i felt as though a great weight had been lifted from my soul. i no longer felt crazy for processing life in the unique way that i do…and i felt like i could finally begin to understand and appreciate myself and others just as we all are, and learn to be the best version of myself moving forward every day. i truly encourage everyone to use the enneagram to learn more about themselves, to become better, more enlightened. socrates once said: “know thyself”… and therein lies the first and most important lesson. only after you learn who you truly are can you begin to know others, and how to truly love them.

Jamie: I think I experienced that same lightening of the soul when I discovered all that entailed being a one [principled, purposeful, perfectionistic], and that I could could let myself and others grow. The thing I like best about the Enneagram is that it gives a direction for healthy integration of self. For example, for someone like me, I’m supposed to try to relax! Hahaha! What?! So, uh, what are you supposed to do?

Chanelle:
well, fours are naturally creative and intuitive and feeling…but that can go dark very quickly. i experience such a depth of emotion over *everything*, and i have to be careful to remember that my feelings are not always a reality, and therefore do not need to define my total experience. i am supposed to be confident in who i am, purposefully creative, and not jealous of my perception of the peace and calm and self confidence EVERYONE else seems to have. a healthy me means a joyful, creative, inspired and inspiring heart…. using my intuition to love and learn and move forward and enrich the lives of others. also, i am supposed to be more like ones, haha! so let’s just trade.